The present invention relates to the art of display panel mounting systems and in particular to the display panel mounting systems such as the display panels used by real estate agents to mark a particular property as being for sale.
Many different mounting systems for purposes such as referred to above are well known. One system utilizes a normally generally vertical pole to which is secured at the top a transverse pole. To the transverse pole is panel holding the appropriate advertising material. The panel is usually provided with appropriate information on both surfaces thereof. While in many instances these panel mounting systems are attractive in appearance, they suffer from practical drawbacks particularly for being susceptible to damage in windy weather. The panels are relatively easy to become damaged by playing children. The system is difficult to transport and to properly set up. It is also relatively expensive to produce.
Another known system for holding display standards is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,345,943 issued Apr. 4, 1944 to Bishop and describing a two-way display standard held between two upright posts. The arrangement, while suitable for certain types of application, would not be useful for application outdoors as it requires at least two upright standards to be somehow anchored to the ground parallel with each other. Besides, it is limited to a particular combination of the standards and of the board.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 213,607 issued Mar. 18, 1969 to Grady describes an arrangement of upright and horizontal members combining to form a system of rectangular frames each holding a display panel. The display panel is held around its periphery which means that the panel and the frame have to be exactly matched to each other. The drawback from the standpoint of the present invention is in relative lack of versatility. Besides, there is need for two posts to be anchored to the ground. The production cost is also relatively high.
Virtually the same drawback is present in the known sign board rack described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,733 issued Dec. 24, 1985 to Forslund. A complex arrangement of a display unit combined with socket mounted members is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,631 granted Sept. 7, 1976 to Diersing. This arrangement is extremely complex and relatively difficult to assemble. It holds the display panels by engaging their edges. There is no possibility of adjustment of the mounting arrangement to different widths of the panels which is given by the size of the sockets. Another arrangement of similar type is displayed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,415,519 issued Dec. 10, 1968 to Hand disclosing a portable target panel held by its side edges. As in the previous case, there is no adjustability to different sizes of the panels.
Another group of known prior art is capable of mounting sides of different size by placing same into a normally generally horizontal slot. The common drawback of these arrangements is that, regardless whether a single panel or a pair of panels is mounted, they are all mounted only along a bottom horizontal edge. The mount is therefore only suitable for certain environments, particularly those where the sign is not exposed to mechanical stresses such as those caused by wind or the like. A typical example of the signs of this type include U.S. Pat. No. 1,400,564 issued Dec. 20, 1921 to Metzger or U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,520 issued June 14, 1983 to Ahrens and also U.S. Pat. No. 1,915,762 issued June 27, 1933 to Rost, all of which only have a panel engaging slot at the bottom.